Mets notes: Jason Bay cleared

Bay cleared

Left fielder Jason Bay hasn’t done anything baseball-related since suffering a fractured rib April 23 while attempting to make a diving catch against San Francisco, but he’s getting closer to returning after being given the go-ahead by team doctors to resume baseball activities.

"It feels a lot better," Bay said Monday before the game against Milwaukee. "When I first did it, everything bothered me. And now all the day-to-day stuff doesn’t bother me. … I kind of feel it’s time we can start to do some stuff."

So far, he mostly has been riding a stationary bike. He said after the game he intends to start baseball activities today. He likely will go to the Mets’ complex in Port St. Lucie, Fla., later this week, and as Bay said, begin to "ramp up" his recovery in hopes of having a minor league rehab assignment soon.

"He works so hard," Collins said, "so I would think if he could start this week, seven to 10 days from whenever he gets started.’’

Briefs

Daniel Murphy, who has a 10-game hitting streak, went 2-for-4 with an RBI single in the first off Yovani Gallardo (2-4). He doubled in the sixth and later scored on Ronny Cedeno’s suicide squeeze. … Ike Davis went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts one day after being scratched from the starting lineup because he was sick. His average fell to .168. … 2011 National League MVP Ryan Braun went 1-for-4 with a single for the visitors and was booed heavily every time up. Braun had a 50-game suspension for taking performance-enhancing substances overturned by an arbitrator in the off-season. Shyam Das, who made that decision, was fired by MLB on Monday.